He is accused of paralyzing his underage girlfriend and a supreme court Judge ordered him to stay in jail, but tonight 19-year-old Abdiel Sandoval is free on the streets of Cayo. How did it happen? Well he didn't escape, in fact the young man, who is facing a stiff sentence of life in prison for attempted murder, was released from jail on the order of a Magistrate. As we understand it, Justice Michelle Arana denied Sandoval bail on October 25th under the condition that he be tried at the next practical sitting of the Supreme Court in January. That session hasn't even begun and under the Criminal Justice Act, as we have been made to understand it, Sandoval would only have been eligible for bail if at the end of the January session if his case still hadn't gone to trial.
A senior prosecutor we spoke to today said they are trying to work around the situation. Sandoval's attorney Michael Peyrefitte meanwhile told us to the contrary that his client deserved bail. But all the legal wrangling means nothing to the girl's family. She was attending high school before the incident but is now bedridden and her mother Glenda Donis visited us yesterday demanding justice or at least personal safety.
Glenda Donis, Mother
"He is out on bail as far as I know. I just get the news Saturday night that he is out and he shouldn't supposed to get any bail at all until 2006. He was remanded to the Hattieville Prison and he is out now. I want justice because I am afraid. We don't know what he is up to and we are afraid because he can go through the border easy as that and never come back again. And we want justice because what he did to my daughter...he crippled her for the rest of her lifer and it hurts me knowing that is out there. I want justice to be done."
Keith Swift,
Hw is your daughter doing?
Glenda Donis,
"She is the same way. She cannot help her own self. She is like a baby. I have to do everything for her. From her waist down she cannot do anything."
Keith Swift,
And you say you are fearful?
Glenda Donis,
"Yes I am afraid. I am not safe anymore because he is supposed to be in jail for what he did. He shouldn't be out and I feel really bad about this. I want justice to be done and make him pay for what he did because he can't be walking the street like he didn't do anything because this is something serious what he did to my daughter."
We were unable to reach Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord for comment. The Magistrate who granted Sandoval bail was also unavailable for comment.
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